The present invention relates to a modular wall or double wall element for dry assembly
In the building industry, it is known to provide walls or double walls comprising, firstly, a structural part designed to be situated inside the building and, secondly, a facing part intended to be placed on the outside of the building.
Conventionally, the structural part is made up from reinforced concrete or building blocks and the outer facing part is made from a covering of small bricks, stones or similar. While the structural part is designed to be covered, inside the building, with a finishing consisting for example of plaster or plasterboard, the outer facing part is designed to be seen from outside.
Depending on the particular case, an insulating space can be provided between the structural and facing parts, for receiving layers of fiberglass or another insulating material.
Even if it remains true that double walls constitute a rational solution which is completely adapted to the requirements of the building industry, the fact nevertheless remains that their cost and implementation cost are relatively high.
To reduce costs, various solutions for modular walls or double walls have been proposed in the past.
Some of these solutions consist in modular elements shaped to fit into each other in the dry state, in other words without using mortar or some other similar bonding means. These solutions allow faster building and the use of relatively unskilled labour, thereby reducing the cost of buildings.
This said, eliminating physical joints between the modular elements does create a certain number of problems including the problems of air- and water-tightness.
A problem with air-tightness can easily be overcome by for example covering the face of a modular wall or double wall located towards the inside of the building with a plaster or plasterboard covering.
Problems of water-tightness are, on the other hand, much more difficult to resolve and the situation currently is that no wall or double wall modular element for dry assembly available on the market can resolve this problem of sealing in a satisfactory manner.
The principal aim of the present invention is to provide a wall or double wall modular element for dry assembly that makes it possible to obtain walls or double walls that are watertight without the need to add any protection whatsoever.
This aim, as well as other aims which will become apparent from the description that follows, is achieved, according to the invention by a modular element for a wall or double wall for dry assembly, wherein at least some of its faces designed to co-operate with adjacent modular elements have contact portions designed to be applied against said adjacent modular elements, and separation portions designed to remain separated by a clearance from said adjacent modular elements, said clearance being sufficiently large to limit or even eliminate infiltration of water by capillarity.
According to other characteristics of the invention:
the upper and lower faces of the modular element each have at least one contact portion taking the form of a substantially flat land and a separation portion respectively shaped in the form of a longitudinal projection and in the form of a longitudinal channel defining a mutual interfitting arrangement, said flat lands being designed to provide vertical transfer of loads through said modular element and said longitudinal projection and longitudinal channel being designed to limit or even eliminate horizontal infiltration of water by capillarity as well as ensuring guiding of said modular element during assembly and maintaining it in place once assembled, and forming a mechanical barrier to dynamic horizontal infiltration of water and air,
said longitudinal projection and channel have, moving from the outside towards the inside of said modular element, at least one flank which is inclined with respect to the vertical, a horizontal flank and a vertical flank,
said inclined flank makes an angle of about. 30xc2x0 with respect to the vertical,
the modular element comprises at least one hollow extending between the flat lands of its upper and lower faces in order to oblige possible infiltration of water to run vertically as well as to lighten said modular element,
said upper face carries at least one horizontal groove extending along its length and communicating with said hollow, in order to constitute a supplementary obstacle to horizontal infiltration of water and to channel the latter towards said hollow,
said horizontal groove is adjacent to said longitudinal projection, in order to stop possible water infiltration as close as possible to the outside of said modular element,
the cumulative transverse extension of said longitudinal projection and of said horizontal groove is substantially equal to the transverse extension of said longitudinal channel,
the cross section of said hollow decreases towards the base of the said modular element in order to facilitate mold release thereof during manufacture and to provide a sloping path for passage downwards of water,
said hollow has a substantially rectangular shape with rounded corners in order to obviate the presence of areas where breakage can start,
the radius of curvature of the corners of said hollow is greater than 35 mm,
the modular element has two hollows arranged so as to be able to constitute water evacuation channels in a straight or horizontally staggered stack, and to possibly allow the placing of vertical anchorage members,
said two hollows are separated by an intermediate cavity communicating with the said horizontal groove, in order to allow more homogeneous compacting of the material constituting said modular element during manufacture, and in order to form a supplementary water evacuation passage,
the side faces of a modular element designed to co-operate with adjacent modular elements each have at least one substantially flat land and a zigzag-shaped portion defining a mutually mating interfitting arrangement, in order to ensure guiding of said modular element at the time of assembly, to maintain it in place once assembled, and to form a mechanical barrier against dynamic vertical infiltration of water and air,
said flat lands constitute contact portions, said zigzag-shaped portions constitute separation portions defining a clearance designed to limit or even eliminate vertical infiltration of water by capillarity,
said side faces include horizontal grooves extending over the full height thereof in order to form a supplementary obstacle to vertical infiltration of water and to channel infiltrated water towards the base of said modular element,
the modular element is shaped whereby said clearance between separation portions is at least equal to 2 mm,
at least the upper horizontal edge of said modular element designed to be placed facing outwards is shaped so as to render the horizontal line of join between two stacked modular elements visible,
one at least of its vertical edges designed to face outwards is shaped so as to render the line of join between two adjacent modular elements visible.
the modular element carries a U-shaped cavity or L-shaped cavity extending between its upper and lower faces, in order to form an anchoring modular element,
the side faces of said modular element designed to be placed against adjacent modular elements are oriented substantially perpendicularly with respect to each other, in order to form a corner modular element,
said modular element is reversible, in other words substantially symmetrical with respect to a vertical axis passing through its center of gravity, in order to form a standard modular element.
the modular element is in waterproof concrete to avoid impregnation by water.
Thanks to these characteristics, a modular element is obtained making it possible to build walls or double walls dry, while including watertightness-providing barriers that are physical (clearance preventing infiltration by capillarity), mechanical (a geometry that prevents dynamic infiltration of water), and chemical (waterproof concrete avoiding infiltration by impregnation). Such walls or double walls are completely watertight so that any supplementary protection means can be dispensed with.